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My husband and I just can't seem to get Eastern Tennessee out of our heads! It is so lovely and an easy one day drive from many of our friends and family members up in northern Indiana and the Chicago area. We presently live down in South Carolina, which has been our home for close to 10 years now. We really love it here, but it takes us two days to drive up to northern Illinois and Indiana, and our grandchildren do not like being strapped in their car seats for two days, so they certainly don't come down here to visit us very often. And the drive, for us, seems to be getting longer and longer.
Our solution is to move several hundred miles further north, but not far enough north to leave behind everything we love about the South. (Warm winters, friendly people, lower cost of living and so on.) So we have been stopping in Tennessee on our way home from every trip up north for quite a few years now in search of the very best town for us to move to when my husband retires. After reading many of the posts on Maryville/Alcoa/Knoxville, I think maybe I have found what I am looking for! We love small towns and mountains and hate heavy traffic and large crowds of people. I was NOT a happy camper while we lived in Chicago!
You have all been very helpful and I just have a few questions. We will be spending a night and morning in Maryville in about a month, so most of my remaining questions will no doubt get answered then. But before we get there I would like to know the following:
How do you pronounce "Blount"?
I have noticed there is a very impressive looking hospital there in Maryville. We are now in our 60's
and in good health, but it is important to us to be near good medical care just in case. (We aren't
getting any younger!) Are you satisfied with the care you get in Maryville and is the hospital a good
one?
How wonderful to live so close to the airport! Do you usually find the airport to be adequate for your
flight needs? We notice there are direct flights to Chicago! Our kids would sure like that!
Barring any unforseen problems, we should be getting into Maryville in time for dinner. I don't want a
restaurant that is too fancy. I don't want to get dressed up. But I do want good food at a local
restaurant that isn't a chain. I found FOOTHILLS MILLING COMPANY, AUBREY'S RESTAURANT,
SULLIVAN'S DOWNTOWN and SHILOH BREW AND CHEW on the internet. Would these be good choices
for us?
Thank you in advance for your help! If I sound familiar to some of you it is because I have been on the Tennessee forum before when we were planning visits to Franklin and Cookeville----both very nice towns but not quite what we were looking for. I am very hopeful that Maryville is the one!
Blount is pronounced "Blunt". The hospital is good as far as I have read on-line and seen on TV commercials. Maryville is also relatively near to the University of Tennessee medical center which was ranked as the #1 hospital in East TN and #3 statewide.
The flights from here tend to be expensive (unless you're going to FL) but the prices arent unbearable unless you fly frequently. I like having the airport near and I have flown from here to Chicago, it was nice and short.
You could also try the new Barley's Taproom which opened in downtown Maryville recently. The placed you mentioned are good choices too though.
Be sure to come back and let us know what you thought!
My husband and I just can't seem to get Eastern Tennessee out of our heads! It is so lovely and an easy one day drive from many of our friends and family members up in northern Indiana and the Chicago area. We presently live down in South Carolina, which has been our home for close to 10 years now. We really love it here, but it takes us two days to drive up to northern Illinois and Indiana, and our grandchildren do not like being strapped in their car seats for two days, so they certainly don't come down here to visit us very often. And the drive, for us, seems to be getting longer and longer.
Our solution is to move several hundred miles further north, but not far enough north to leave behind everything we love about the South. (Warm winters, friendly people, lower cost of living and so on.) So we have been stopping in Tennessee on our way home from every trip up north for quite a few years now in search of the very best town for us to move to when my husband retires. After reading many of the posts on Maryville/Alcoa/Knoxville, I think maybe I have found what I am looking for! We love small towns and mountains and hate heavy traffic and large crowds of people. I was NOT a happy camper while we lived in Chicago!
You have all been very helpful and I just have a few questions. We will be spending a night and morning in Maryville in about a month, so most of my remaining questions will no doubt get answered then. But before we get there I would like to know the following:
How do you pronounce "Blount"?
I have noticed there is a very impressive looking hospital there in Maryville. We are now in our 60's
and in good health, but it is important to us to be near good medical care just in case. (We aren't
getting any younger!) Are you satisfied with the care you get in Maryville and is the hospital a good
one?
How wonderful to live so close to the airport! Do you usually find the airport to be adequate for your
flight needs? We notice there are direct flights to Chicago! Our kids would sure like that!
Barring any unforseen problems, we should be getting into Maryville in time for dinner. I don't want a
restaurant that is too fancy. I don't want to get dressed up. But I do want good food at a local
restaurant that isn't a chain. I found FOOTHILLS MILLING COMPANY, AUBREY'S RESTAURANT,
SULLIVAN'S DOWNTOWN and SHILOH BREW AND CHEW on the internet. Would these be good choices
for us?
Thank you in advance for your help! If I sound familiar to some of you it is because I have been on the Tennessee forum before when we were planning visits to Franklin and Cookeville----both very nice towns but not quite what we were looking for. I am very hopeful that Maryville is the one!
'Lina Girl
We did pretty much the same thing a half dozen years ago and found Maryville and the surrounding areas were "home" almost right away and have not changed out minds since then.
Maryville and the county around it would probably work our really well for you. The drive to IL and IN sure would be cut down to less than a full day on the road as well. We make it to the St. Louis area in about 7 hours. Flying is limited and more expensive than from other larger airports but it also is very easy to get to.
Pronunciation has been covered by ETSUAccountingGuy.
Unless you have a lot of time to waste sitting behind other tourists save Cade's Cove for when you live here. Blount County has plenty of very similar looking areas and the traffic is far less. Depending on where in SC you live the weather will probably be more similar than different.
We don't eat out much but have tried a few local places. Some of the restaurants mentioned have some very good meals but if you don't want to dress up a bit then take the Foothills Milling Company off of your list. You could add the Smoky Mountain Brewery to that list, I fell in love with the burgers there. I haven't tried Shiloh so can't give you a "review" either way.
The hospital seems to be a decent one and so far what little medical care we have needed has been very good. UT Medical Center is up the road in under a half hour for most of the county and there are several other options within fairly easy driving times in Knoxville to cover just about any condition.
Maryville is a great choice in my opinion. It is very easy to get around and has most everything you need. If you have to go to Knoxville just time it around rush hour traffic since Alcoa Hwy gets congested.
Blount Memorial Hospital is ok but it is a small community hospital that is not connected to a larger system with a larger amount of resources. When I had blood clots in my lungs they didn't have time to make it to take me to the hospital in Knoxville. My Knoxville doctors said "well, at least treating blood clots is textbook" but make sure to always try to get to the city. They didn't mean their hospital, they meant any other one but Blount. When I was in there the staff complained about being short staffed and the like and one shift I never saw an RN since she was covering so many patients; I had a CNA taking care of me.
For restaurants, we like Aubrey's, 50's Diner, Smoky Mtn Brewery, Applebee's (soup & salad lunch deal), Olive Garden, Cheddar's. We tend to cook at home a lot though.
The airport is fine and has been discussed a lot elsewhere on this forum.
One other piece of advice I would give you is to speak with a realtor on buying in the city vs the county. City taxes are higher because of the schools and you will need to decide if it is worth it to you. You can get pretty close in while being in the county and save money and still be happy.
Unless you have a lot of time to waste sitting behind other tourists save Cade's Cove for when you live here. Blount County has plenty of very similar looking areas and the traffic is far less.
It wasn't bad when we went in the middle of the week around dusk. But about those other areas...do tell if you'd like. We'd love to know some other places like that.
If it works out to where I move down, I'll be scouring the countryside and hillsides anyways.
Thank you so much ETSU, Bass Daddy, J&Em and Beretta for the helpful information on Maryville. We have made our reservations and will be there on a Wednesday night in several weeks. We really love it here in Aiken, SC and it will not be an easy decision. We love being just a few hours from several beautiful ocean beaches, and about 14 months ago, after a week at the beach, we decided we couldn't leave South Carolina! And, for about a year, I was very content. But I am once again missing my children and grandchildren so very much, and they think Aiken is kind of boring and do not appreciate the two day drive to get here at all! A couple of them have told us that coming to Aiken isn't a real vacation! So I am thinking that living in the foothills of the Smoky Mtns. would be more like a real vacation destination for them. I think I could give up ocean beaches for mountain views.
Well, we really do need to see Maryville for ourselves, don't we? Perhaps it will feel right...as though we are home. If it doesn't, I am reallly not at all sure where to look next. My husband refuses to even look up in Kentucky because of the state income tax and cold winters, so I have had to cross several small cities and towns off my list. He likes Greenville, SC but it is still too far from our kids.
Anyway, Maryville here we come! I will cross FOOTHILLS MILLING COMPANY off my list for now, because after driving all day we will not want something so fancy. SMOKY MOUNTAIN BREWERY sounds about right....I love a good hamburger now and then. CHEDDARS is a chain, isn't it? But I have never tried a Cheddars, so maybe we'll end up there. We will not take the time to do the Cades Cove drive this time, but we certainly want to do that again someday. We have not spent time vacationing in the Smoky Mountains for over 30 years now. I bet things have changed a little! Goodness, I did not mean to be such a Chatty Cathy! You all are probably half asleep by now. Sorry! And again, thanks!!!
It wasn't bad when we went in the middle of the week around dusk. But about those other areas...do tell if you'd like. We'd love to know some other places like that.
If it works out to where I move down, I'll be scouring the countryside and hillsides anyways.
Haha if and when you move down let me know, I might be convinced to divulge some favorite roads. I don't want anyone clogging up the roads I like! Cade's Cove is beautiful but for the tourists who stop dead in their tracks to look at every leaf and squirrel turning the road into worse than rush hour traffic in many major cities. Talk about unnecessary pollution!! We avoid pretty much the whole Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge-Cades Cove area for much of the "tourist season."
Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Lina Girl
Thank you so much ETSU, Bass Daddy, J&Em and Beretta for the helpful information on Maryville. We have made our reservations and will be there on a Wednesday night in several weeks. We really love it here in Aiken, SC and it will not be an easy decision. We love being just a few hours from several beautiful ocean beaches, and about 14 months ago, after a week at the beach, we decided we couldn't leave South Carolina! And, for about a year, I was very content. But I am once again missing my children and grandchildren so very much, and they think Aiken is kind of boring and do not appreciate the two day drive to get here at all! A couple of them have told us that coming to Aiken isn't a real vacation! So I am thinking that living in the foothills of the Smoky Mtns. would be more like a real vacation destination for them. I think I could give up ocean beaches for mountain views.
Well, we really do need to see Maryville for ourselves, don't we? Perhaps it will feel right...as though we are home. If it doesn't, I am reallly not at all sure where to look next. My husband refuses to even look up in Kentucky because of the state income tax and cold winters, so I have had to cross several small cities and towns off my list. He likes Greenville, SC but it is still too far from our kids.
Anyway, Maryville here we come! I will cross FOOTHILLS MILLING COMPANY off my list for now, because after driving all day we will not want something so fancy. SMOKY MOUNTAIN BREWERY sounds about right....I love a good hamburger now and then. CHEDDARS is a chain, isn't it? But I have never tried a Cheddars, so maybe we'll end up there. We will not take the time to do the Cades Cove drive this time, but we certainly want to do that again someday. We have not spent time vacationing in the Smoky Mountains for over 30 years now. I bet things have changed a little! Goodness, I did not mean to be such a Chatty Cathy! You all are probably half asleep by now. Sorry! And again, thanks!!!
Your enthusiasm is noted and appreciated. I sure hope you aren't disappointed by our little town. We knew it was the right place for us very quickly and I think it has a lot of potential to be even better. I won't try to sell you on it but I sure hope you like it just as much as Aiken.
Like Beretta we tend to eat home more than eat out, so sometimes I forget some of the possibilities. Cheddar's is a chain, but a very popular one, judging by the always full parking lot. If you are looking for a breakfast or lunch stop the next day you may also want to look into Vienna Coffee House Vienna Coffee House, Maryville Tennessee | A Cozy Coffee House I love their coffee and they have some great sweet things to go with it. If you will be around for lunch you have a few unique options another Mom and Pop place called TC's Grill that is always busy T.C.'s Grill - Maryville | Urbanspoon or the Hot Rods 50s Diner Hot Rods 50's Diner - Maryville - Alcoa | Urbanspoon. Another place not always on everyone's radar is Miss Olivia's Table Miss Olivia's Table - Maryville | Urbanspoon
Beretta is right about looking into outside of the city limits for possible homes. Many people stay within them for the schools and some of the services but it also means double the amount of property taxes, something important to consider when you are retired.
I second the Vienna Coffee House! I love that place.
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We love small towns and mountains and hate heavy traffic and large crowds of people. I was NOT a happy camper while we lived in Chicago! 
